A Glendale man who allegedly forced his teenage niece into prostitution, plied her with narcotics and even had sex with her multiple times was locked up last week, prosecutors announced.
According to the criminal complaint that the Queens District Attorney’s office provided, Eddy Florence, 32, allegedly approached the 13-year-old girl in November and asked her to work for him as a prostitute. After she agreed to do so, he brought her to his 70th Avenue home, took photos of her and included them in sex sale ads online.
Prosecutors said that customers would visit Florence’s home and engage in sex acts with the teenager for cash, which was allegedly turned over to Florence. Police said that Florence also allegedly provided the girl with cocaine and other drugs that she used regularly to keep working.
An investigation found that Florence allegedly brought the girl and another young woman to a Staten Island hotel between Dec. 10 and 13, where they performed sexual acts with customers who visited.
Law enforcement sources said that Florence had also become sexually involved with the teenage girl on multiple locations at the Glendale home.
Members of the NYPD Narcotics Borough Queens allegedly caught Florence in bed with his niece at 10:40 p.m. on Dec. 13 while they executed a court-authorized search of his residence as part of an ongoing investigation.
During the search, police recovered small plastic bags of heroin, cocaine and marijuana, as well as a credit card embossing machine typically used to create forged credit cards. They also recovered Florence’s cellphone, which is registered to a phone number used in the online prostitution ads.
The girl later told police that Florence is her uncle.
Florence faces more than 140 felony and misdemeanor counts including first-degree kidnapping, second-degree rape, second-degree criminal sexual act, sex trafficking, criminal possession of a controlled substance and criminal possession of a forged instrument.
During his arraignment on Dec. 14, court records indicated, Florence was ordered held on $500,000 bail and to return to court on Jan. 5.
Editor’s note: An earlier version incorrectly identified the Florence home as being on 70th Street. It has been corrected; we apologize for any confusion.
